1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of residential and restaurant class cooking equipment and methods of cooking and, more specifically, the invention relates to charbroilers and charbroiler systems that cook food products simultaneously on both sides using a combination of heated grids and radiant heaters.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of commercial cooking, cooking devices need to be able to rapidly cook food products and have high throughput of large quantities of food to meet the needs of a busy kitchen. In commercial cooking, food products are customarily passed through an oven, fryer, or broiler on a conveyor belt. The conveyor belt moves the food product through the oven at an appropriate speed such that the food product is cooked to the desired degree just as it exits the opposite end of the oven, fryer, or broiler. Such cooking devices are used in fast food restaurants and the like, for example. In such an apparatus, successive servings of meats and fowl such as hamburgers, chicken parts, and similar food products are cooked in a continuous production line.
Conventional chain broilers may utilize a conveyor chain that suspends the food products between upper and lower heaters. The food product is placed on the conveyor chain, and the conveyor moves the food product through the cooking chamber, where the product is heated by the elements above and below the product.
Yet, conventional chain broilers and clamshell over-broilers are disadvantageous, as they can only produce a food product with a grilled bottom and a broiled top—as conventional commercial conveyor systems provide no grill markings on top.
Additionally, electric grills are available with solid cooking surfaces both above and below the food product, for example, grills comprise solid plates of metal or coated metal that are used to press food products there between to cook them. The Taylor® QS Series of clamshell grills and the George Foreman® grill for home use are examples of this technology.
For example, US Patent Publication No. 2006/0289514 to Baumann discloses a clamshell top platen grill with under microwave. Yet, Baumann is silent as to a charbroiling process, nor can it perform the charbroiling process. Charbroiling involves underheat passing through a lower grate supporting food product, wherein the underheat both heats the grate supporting the food (providing grill marks), and allows radiant and convective heat to pass through the openings in the grate to brown and otherwise assist in cooking the food product not in contact with the grates. The Baumann device is not a charbroiler at all, but instead a hybrid microwave and solid grill.
Other known cooking systems employ grills with a bottom grilling surface with clamshell over broilers. Additionally, there are radiant heaters for grilling the bottom surface of the food product or broiling the top surface.
Further, the cooking process of traditional charbroilers/grills is highly variable due to the potential for variability of heat added to the food product by the grid. For example, if a grill has been sitting idle for some time, the grid may be excessively hot and burn the food product when placed on it. On the other hand, if a first cooking cycle has just ended and a food product has just been removed from the grid and another food product is subsequently put immediately onto the grate, the grate may not have recovered to the target initial temperature, and therefore may not mark the product, take longer to cook the food product, and/or cause the food product to undesirably stick to the grid.
Therefore, it can be seen that a need yet exists for a charbroiling system that charbroils food products simultaneously on both sides.